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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

How eLearning Enhances Student’s Learning Progress, In & Out of the Classroom by Jordan Bradley

My guest blogger today is Jordan Bradley. Please be sure to check out his unique guest post. Guest posts are always welcome, please contact me
 
Sometimes there’s no substitute for face-to-face teaching.

But did you know that using traditional techniques alone could limit the learning of your students?

The benefits of using eLearning in your lessons

Appeals to younger learners
Remember that younger generations in general have had increased exposure to technology from a young age, and have most likely experienced upbringings in which technology has been heavily featured.

Basically, despite their age, younger learners will be more accustomed to technology than you think.

Because of this, eLearning can - for many younger learners - be an environment that feels so familiar, that it’s actually a more comfortable environment for them to learn in, as opposed to open class discussions.

As such, it must be utilised. But utilised resourcefully. Traditional teaching methods remain vital for the development of young learners into well rounded children.

Whilst eLearning can prove highly engaging for younger generations, it should only be used selectively in order to ensure that the learning process is not disrupted.


Provides a welcoming platform for comfortable discussion
Engaging your classroom is a common problem for those in a variety of professions.

But eLearning can help there, because it creates a highly shareable, comparable and discussion-worthy experience.

Example
Let’s say you set your class the homework of completing a simple 10 question test online.

You could reveal the results however you choose. If you opt for allowing for the class to view their own results upon completion of the test, then you can be quite sure that they’ll be exchanging results with their friends before and during your class!

Alternatively, you might go with the big dramatic reveal in the class itself. Displaying your class’ results in a leader board will guarantee an outbreak of discussion!

But one of the best aspects of eLearning is that it’s such an easy way to address any learning issues. Once your class have had their fun proudly boasting, making jibes at friends and sharing scores, you can quickly engage the class based upon this shared experience.

Display areas in which your class struggled, and everyone will be interested, because either they - or their friends - are the subject of your discussion.

Utilising eLearning in this fashion not only engages your classroom, but also enables highly intuitive problem solving.

And this is just one way in which to use eLearning! The types of learning technologies available to us as teachers has actually doubled in the past 5 years! (Source: Training Zone)

Here’s a whole other host of options for you to consider! Select whichever you think would be most appropriate for your class and subject.



How eLearning enhances your students’ out of the classroom learning
The benefits of eLearning extend beyond the classroom, and if anything, the most noteworthy developments of your students learning will in fact happen outside the conventional learning environment.

Generally, students can have a tendency to be reluctant to interact and collaborate with peers outside their friendship group. eLearning is such a useful teaching tool as it actually facilitates this interaction, enhancing social ties and increasing collaboration.

eLearning removes barriers such as judgement and awkwardness, and provides a platform for the open and unhindered expression of ideas and discussion of opinions. When the learning is taken back to the classroom, students will tend to feel more comfortable upon sharing those experiences.

Why is this greater interaction a positive force in the learning process?
Collaboration is a concept that only add value to the whole learning process, as students are able to understand other perspectives and broaden their own perception of topics.

How else does eLearning affect the learning process outside the classroom?
Due to the removal of certain social learning barriers, eLearning tends to be quite conducive to extracurricular learning too.

Without the immediate physical fear of sharing something that peers may scoff at, fail to understand or disagree with, the process of students sharing further resources becomes simpler and increasingly popular.

As a result, this leads to your students having access to a range of resources - supplied by their trusted peers - which other classes will not.

This aspect of eLearning is such a game changer as it drives differentiation, knowledge leadership and will often lead to greater discoveries.

Summary
So, now you have an understanding of why you must consider beginning to integrate eLearning techniques into your teaching.

From this post, you’ll be able to ascertain:
  • How using eLearning will benefit your teaching in the classroom.
  • Which eLearning techniques are options to consider for your particular teaching program or syllabus.
  • The rationale behind utilising eLearning to aid your students teaching outside the classroom, extending the learning process beyond the direct, immediate returns evident in the classroom.  
Jordan Bradley works for High Speed Training (HST), a fully accredited specialist eLearning course provider based in the UK. He enjoys his responsibility of managing HST’s Hub - a blog which posts weekly insightful articles on a range of topics related to their array of online courses. Jordan spends the rest of his time running around the countryside, travelling on weekends to visit friends he wished lived closer, and fighting hard in the battle against laziness, amongst other things. 

Many thanks to Jordan Bradley. 
Enjoy your reading!